[ BUSINESS BRIEFS ]

Staff writer, with Agencies

Firms to invest at home

The Ministry of Economic Affairs said it has approved 11 applications by overseas Taiwanese businesses to invest in Taiwan since the beginning of the year, with the combined proposed investments totaling more than US$4 billion.

The applications reflected the success of measures implemented to expand domestic investments to boost export momentum, the ministry said in a statement on Friday, adding that the companies planning to make the investments play a crucial role in the global supply chain.

The total value of the new investment projects was assessed at NT$126 billion (US$4.36 billion) and they are expected to create about 16,000 jobs, the ministry added.

Sales of new cars during the first 10 days of the month rose 108 percent compared with the same period last month to 9,612 units as car vendors continued promotions started last month, the latest industry data released last week showed.

However, sales showed were down 40.4 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

Out of the 9,612 cars sold in the period, 2,316 units were imported, up 107 percent from a month earlier, but down 35.2 percent from a year earlier, statistics show.

Hotai Motor Corp (和泰汽車), the local sales agent for Toyota Motor Corp, said sales for the rest of the month are expected to accelerate because of the Lunar New Year holiday, which will take place from Feb. 9 to Feb. 17.

SinoPac Securities Investment Service (永豐金投顧) on Saturday said car sales this month are expected to reach 43,000 units, up 7.5 percent from a year earlier.

Myanmar ‘unripe:’ businessman

A Myanmar-based Taiwanese businessman on Saturday said that the investment environment in the formerly isolated state is not ripe because of its immature legal and banking systems, as well as its underdeveloped infrastructure.

The businessman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters that despite Myanmar having established the general principles of investment law, detailed regulations have not been drawn up, leaving investors somewhat lost.

There are also no foreign banks in the country, only representative offices for foreign banks, he added.

The only bank from Taiwan with a representative office in Myanmar is First Commercial Bank (第一銀行).

TAITRA leads firms to US profit

Twenty Taiwanese firms attending the Consumer Electronics Show this month in Las Vegas, Nevada, were estimated to have generated millions of US dollars in business, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) said.

TAITRA led the 20 companies to participate in the annual show from Tuesday to Friday last week and the firms are estimated to have generated more than US$10 million in sales, the council said in a statement.

Smartphone maker HTC Corp (宏達電) was ranked 24th in the Most Innovative Companies 2012 survey published by the Boston Consulting Group, making it the only Taiwanese company to be listed among the world’s top 50.